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Iraqi President Condemns Syrian Support Of Turkish Threats

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By ANDREW E. KRAMER, New York Times

Published: October 21, 2007

BAGHDAD - President Jalal Talabani of Iraq has criticized Syria for supporting Turkey's threat to carry out military attacks against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.

Talabani said in an interview that President Bashar Assad of Syria had crossed a 'red line' by speaking approvingly of Turkey's threat of a cross-border offensive against the rebels.

'Usually, I refrain from commenting on Syrian positions to maintain our historical good relations,' Talabani, himself a Kurd, said in the interview, published Saturday in the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat. 'But this time I cannot support this crossing of a red line.'

The tensions have already unnerved world oil markets. The price of crude oil hit a record high Thursday, before sliding 87 cents to close at $88.60 a barrel in New York on Friday.

'I think these statements are dangerous and contradict the soul of Arabic solidarity,' Talabani said.

Talabani's comments were in reference to Assad's endorsement of the Turkish Parliament's decision Wednesday to authorize cross-border incursions against Kurdish rebels.

Turkey, however, has said that no strikes are imminent. The rebels, known as the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, use bases along the mountainous border to stage attacks inside Turkey in a separatist struggle that has continued for decades.

Syria also has a large Kurdish minority and, like Turkey, fears that the substantial autonomy that Kurds inside Iraq have won will impel Kurds in Syria to seek similar concessions, or even independence.

Turkey says about 3,000 rebels seeking an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey now operate out of bases in Iraq.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the PKK threatened in a telephone interview Saturday that the group would retaliate against the Turkish oil infrastructure if Turkey attacked its bases.

The spokesman, Abdul Rahaman Jaderi, said the group would strike a pipeline that transports Iraqi oil to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

'Turkey makes money from Iraqi oil pipelines and buys weapons to attack us,' he said.

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